JayisGames.com is now available ad-free!
Jay is Games recommends Cheat Happens with 8,000+ games and 35,000+ trainers!

I Have 1 Day


  • Currently 4.7/5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Rating: 4.7/5 (320 votes)
Comments (33) | Views (38,341)

joyeI Have 1 DayYou have one (1) day. One is the number of days you have, and the number of days you have is one. You shall not have two days. One day to do what, you ask? Well, actually, you've got to find that out yourself. You've been knocked on the head and placed into a prison cell, and there's some kind of coronation going on in a little less than 24 hours. Maybe you should just point-and-click around and see if you can discover what's going on. Oh, you've died? Well, never mind. You only have one day, but you can have it over and over again as much as you like until you solve the various puzzles. It's a messy medieval groundhog day in Cellar Door Games new adventure game, I Have 1 Day.

Use your mouse to interact with the game. Click through dialogue and click on objects to interact with them or pick them up and add them to your inventory. You can use inventory items on other inventory items or on objects in the scene. In the lower right, you'll see two important buttons. One is the clock showing what hour you are at in the day. (You have 1 day, remember, so don't fritter it away.) To the left of that is your logbook. You'll keep notes there of what you did throughout the day. You can rewind to the beginning or end of a previous hour by clicking on the hour at the top of a page. Beneath the logbook is the controls for sound and the menu button. The sound controls are actually game-important, though I can't explain further without spoilers.

Your first priority is going to be figuring out who you are, why you are where you are, and what to do about it. Then you need to figure out what you need to get in order to do it, and finally, you have to figure out how to get it all done in the time period you have. The best ending requires absolutely perfect performance from start to finish with no wasted time. There is also a hilarious "just missed it" ending if you manage to right the major wrong but not in time to stop the villain from putting part of the evil plan into motion. All other endings are simply short descriptions of your death.

I Have 1 DayAnalysis: The rhythm of the game, in terms of requiring players to use trial and error to collect information and make a plan that fits stringent time limits, is reminiscent of interactive fiction classic Varicella, only in a much briefer and more casual experience. Few people have the patience and note-taking skills to solve Varicella completely independently. I Have 1 Day is much easier to figure out, and the ability to rewind so precisely lessens the frustrations of mistakes.

Only one puzzle is what I consider unfair, in that it requires the player to do something that breaks the fourth wall in a way that I would have never thought to do on my own. I can't see many gamers solving that one on their own without doing the required step by coincidence. Other puzzles can be tricky but make logical sense, at least in hindsight. When in doubt, the adventure gamer standby of "click on everything and rub everything on everything" is your best friend. It will occasionally kill you, but usually your death reveals information to you, so messing up in this game is all part of the learning process.

The game has a lot of charm, from its super chunky pixel graphics (I especially love the way the wizards look when they laugh) to its writing, which is frequently gently self-mocking. I actually liked the "almost" ending the best, because of the forlorn/hilarious pictures that accompany the credits. Cheer up, almost ending! You may have one day, but you can have it again.

Play I Have 1 Day

Walkthrough Guide


(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)

I Have 1 Day Walkthrough

Perfect Ending:

  • 12:00 to 2:00

    1. Pick up the mop.

    2. Use the mop on the loose brick.

    3. Use the mop on the chamber pot.

    4. Use the mop on the dirt.

    5. Dig through the wet dirt.

    6. Pick up an onion from the garden.

    7. Pick up the scarecrow.

    8. Use the scarecrow on yourself.

    9. Click the bush to enter the prison.

    10. Use the naked scarecrow on the bed.

    11. Exit the prison through the hole.

    12. Use the scarecrow's clothes on yourself.

    13. Exit the prison grounds..

  • 2:00 - 6:00

    1. Use the mop on the fountain.

    2. Talk to the beautiful job board lady and take either available job.

    3. Go back to the prison.

  • 6:00 - 7:00

    1. Enter the prison via the bush.

    2. Pick up the naked scarecrow from the bed.

    3. Exit the prison via the hole and reenter via the door.

    4. Get your belongings from the shelf.

    5. Exit via the door and exit the prison grounds.

    6. Go to Zanda's Magic Shop.

  • 7:00 - 9:00

    1. Enter the magic shop and talk to the wizard.

    2. Give the wizard money, the bloody arrowhead, and the wet mop.

    3. Exit the magic shop and go to the dragon's den.

  • 9:00 - 12:00

    1. After clicking through the dialogue, talk to the yellow wizard to be given a riddle.

    2. Click on the yellow wizard again to solve the riddle.

    3. Talk to yellow again for the next puzzle, which is a river crossing puzzle. To cross fastest, cross in this order:

      • You and red cross

      • You come back alone

      • Yellow and blue cross

      • Red comes back alone

      • You and red cross.

  • 12:00 - 14:00

    1. After the cutscene, use the naked scarecrow on the corpse.

    2. Use the empty canteen on the litter box to get dragon urine.

    3. Use the urine on yourself.

    4. Use the onion on the dragon to get tears.

    5. Exit the dragon den and go back to the magic shop.

  • 14:00 - 16:00

    1. Enter the shop and give the wizard the dragon tears.

    2. Exit the shop and go to town.

  • 16:00 - 19:00

    1. Use the mute button under the logbook if you don't already have the game muted, and talk to beautiful job board lady.

    2. Take the remaining job.

    3. Go back to the magic shop.

  • 19:00 - 20:00

    1. Talk to the wizard and get the wand.

    2. Use the gold pieces on the sign to get the defective haste scroll.

    3. Exit the magic shop and go to the castle.

  • 20:00 - 21:00

    1. Use the scroll on the clock.

    2. Talk to the guard so that he'll move aside.

    3. Pass through the inner gate.

  • 21:00 - 22:00

    1. After the cutscene, use the wand on the black wizard.

    2. Then use the wand on the prince.

    3. Enjoy the credits.

Almost Ending:

To get the almost ending, arrive at the castle with the wand at 23:00 or 24:00. If you're following the walkthrough, you can choose to wait an hour or two at the castle gate before entering to do this.

Walkthrough!

Hour 0

Grab the mop, and use it to pry the loose brick out of the wall.

Wet the mop in the chamber pot, and use it to wet the dirt behind the brick so you can dig through it.

Hour 1

Grab an onion from the onion patch, and the scarecrow.

Use the scarecrow on yourself to acquire his clothes, which you can wear as a disguise.

Click the bush to go back inside, and put the scarecrow in your bed.

Exit through the hole in the brick again, and click the gate to leave the area.

Go to the town square.

Hour 3

Wet your mop in the fountain.

Talk to the job board lady, and accept one job. It doesn't matter which.

Go back to the prison.

Hour 6

Go through the bush, into the cell, and get the scarecrow back.

Exit through the hole in the brick, and re enter the prison through the main door, on the left side of the screen, to get your belongings back (50 gold, your clothes, and your lucky arrowhead).

Exit the prison again, and go to Zanda's Magic Shop.

Hour 7

Talk to the wizard to learn about the counter curse.

Give the wizard your arrowhead, your gold, and your water-soaked mop.

Leave the shop and go to the swamp.

Hour 9

Talk to the wizards to begin the first riddle. The answer is:

The Yellow Wizard.

Talk to the wizards again to begin the second riddle. The fastest solution is:

You and Red across. You back. Blue and Yellow across. Red back. You and Red across.

Hour 12

Use the scarecrow on the dead guy to prop him up.

Use the canteen on the litter box to collect dragon urine.

Use the urine on yourself to make yourself smell like a dragon.

Use the onion on the dragon to collect pure dragon water.

Exit through the cave, and return to the Magic Shop.

Hour 14

Give the pure dragon water to the wizard.
Go to the town square.

Hour 16

Talk to the job board lady to try and get another job.

Mute the sound to stop the bell, then talk to the job lady again, and take the remaining job.

Exit the town and head back to the magic shop.

Hour 19

Retrieve the counterspell from the wizard.

Use your gold on the sign with the scroll to buy the defective haste spell.

Leave the shop and go to the inner gate.

Hour 20

Use the scroll on the clock to speed it up.

Go past the guard, and go to the castle.

Hour 21

Use the wand on the black wizard.

Use the wand on the prince.

You win!

33 Comments

My account is disabled April 15, 2011 9:45 PM

I'm having a hard time with the three wizards second puzzle.

It's a crossing puzzle and I'm always poor with those.
Blue 2 hrs
yellow 1 hr 40 mins
red 20 mins
me 10 mins

I keep sending me with blue first, because it takes me the least time to get back across the poison, but by going:
me+ blue, me, Me+yellow, me, me+ red
nabs me a time of 4hrs 20 mins and a score of just OK.

Can someone tell me a better way?

Reply

Any hints for getting dragon water? Or passing the wizards?

Reply

Walkthrough!

Hour 0

Grab the mop, and use it to pry the loose brick out of the wall.

Wet the mop in the chamber pot, and use it to wet the dirt behind the brick so you can dig through it.

Hour 1

Grab an onion from the onion patch, and the scarecrow.

Use the scarecrow on yourself to acquire his clothes, which you can wear as a disguise.

Click the bush to go back inside, and put the scarecrow in your bed.

Exit through the hole in the brick again, and click the gate to leave the area.

Go to the town square.

Hour 3

Wet your mop in the fountain.

Talk to the job board lady, and accept one job. It doesn't matter which.

Go back to the prison.

Hour 6

Go through the bush, into the cell, and get the scarecrow back.

Exit through the hole in the brick, and re enter the prison through the main door, on the left side of the screen, to get your belongings back (50 gold, your clothes, and your lucky arrowhead).

Exit the prison again, and go to Zanda's Magic Shop.

Hour 7

Talk to the wizard to learn about the counter curse.

Give the wizard your arrowhead, your gold, and your water-soaked mop.

Leave the shop and go to the swamp.

Hour 9

Talk to the wizards to begin the first riddle. The answer is:

The Yellow Wizard.

Talk to the wizards again to begin the second riddle. The fastest solution is:

You and Red across. You back. Blue and Yellow across. Red back. You and Red across.

Hour 12

Use the scarecrow on the dead guy to prop him up.

Use the canteen on the litter box to collect dragon urine.

Use the urine on yourself to make yourself smell like a dragon.

Use the onion on the dragon to collect pure dragon water.

Exit through the cave, and return to the Magic Shop.

Hour 14

Give the pure dragon water to the wizard.
Go to the town square.

Hour 16

Talk to the job board lady to try and get another job.

Mute the sound to stop the bell, then talk to the job lady again, and take the remaining job.

Exit the town and head back to the magic shop.

Hour 19

Retrieve the counterspell from the wizard.

Use your gold on the sign with the scroll to buy the defective haste spell.

Leave the shop and go to the inner gate.

Hour 20

Use the scroll on the clock to speed it up.

Go past the guard, and go to the castle.

Hour 21

Use the wand on the black wizard.

Use the wand on the prince.

You win!

Reply

Oh gosh, I guess I was slow. Oh well.

@Riley

Dragon Water:

You can distill the urine, but he said there are other ways to get it. Where do creatures make water from?

You could make the dragon cry.

Use an onion from the prison garden.

Wizards:

The first puzzle is relatively easy. Just think of who is the only one you know can be telling the truth.

The Yellow Wizard, who explained the rules to you.

The second puzzle is a bit more tricky. You want to find the most efficient way across. While you might think that since you are the fastest, it makes sense to always send you back, there is a more efficient way.

Combining the yellow and blue together on a trip across is necessary for the shortest possible time. But you don't want to send one of THEM back with the lantern... You want someone faster already there, ready to take it back.

Send yourself and Red across first, then you back. Then send Yellow and Blue across, and Red back. You and Red are free to cross for the shortest possible time.

Reply
Dave Lopo April 15, 2011 11:40 PM

Oh wow, you didn't realize

muting the game

quieted the guard, joye?

I'd think that people here are used to that sort of thing by now.

Reply

I'm pretty sure Humbug had audio messing-around-withness and that was reviewed a mere few weeks ago.

Reply

Humbug didn't have that.

Also, in games like Humbug, it's clear from the beginning that the puzzles require you to break the fourth wall. There's none of that here.

Reply

Breaking the fourth wall is pretty unusual, but not unheard of. It reminds me of something Sierra would have done back in the day.

Reply
Anonymous April 16, 2011 2:51 PM

I really enjoyed this game and I'm an adventure game fanatic. My favourites include Monkey Island 1 & 2, Day of the Tentacle, and my abolute favourite King's Quest 6, so this art-style is definitely a throw-back to back then.

The concept is interesting. A very unique take on adventure games. I was initially afraid it would be complicated with the whole back-tracking but it wasn't.

I HATE adventure games with completely illogical puzzles. None of that here. Excellent pacing, good humour, multiple endings, this is a new favourite!

I eventually got the 4th wall break. Frustrating at first, but once you get it it's a great feeling!

Great job!!

Reply
Anonymous April 16, 2011 4:27 PM

The fact that you can ignore a couple of items that you will absolutely need later on is pretty Sierra-like too...thankfully the game is really short, not particularly hard and you can revisit every hour.

It's an interesting concept, I liked it.

After waiting for the guard to let me out the first time and wondering why I don't have enough time to finish my quest, I realized this was a sweet one.

Reply

I escaped the prison but apparently I have a curse, but i didnt see any mention of how I got it. Did I miss something?

Reply
dmboogie April 17, 2011 3:21 AM

I thought that too, but no, you aren't missing anything. It'll be more clear when you talk to the wizard guy.

Reply
nocturnal YL April 17, 2011 12:12 PM

Finished the game. It's very easy, and I can say I like the perfect ending a lot. Didn't see the "almost" ending though; will do now.

Reply

Ok, this is either my computer being silly or me...but i cant seem to get started :/ I click "new game" and it takes me to a scene with two guys, one with a bow, standing opposite a castle and mote. When i click it dosnt seem to do anything :P

Reply
Arainach April 17, 2011 7:58 PM

maria: I've got the same problem. Not sure what's going on there.

Reply

This game was fantastic! Loved it!
Question about the end:

Did anyone figure out how to save the King? Is that possible? I would have thought not, but at the end the prince says, "If I'd done something differently I could have saved you." And when I checked their walkthrough I saw a picture with the king restored. Anyone have any ideas?

Reply

Oh, also, for the walkthroughs above, there's an alternate way to

complete the first tasks (the way I ended up doing it). You can just clean up the dirt in the cell and have the guard come by and give you your bag of swag; there's still plenty of time to go down to the job board and get the dough before Zanda's shoppe opens at 7:00.

Reply
Dr. Worm April 18, 2011 1:57 PM

The funny messages you get when you die also remind me of the Sierra point and click games, like King's Quest.

I freaking love this game.

Reply

Great! I also like Cronon (available here on JIG), another time-sequence game.

Reply

I would have never muted the game since I keep my computer muted

Reply
RountreeUSMC April 21, 2011 1:08 AM

@phil

To answer your question

you have to make it to the throne room before 22:00 to save the king.

Also,

you cannot achieve the perfect ending if you wait the 3 hours to clean the jail cell. Here's the math:

The guard won't let you out until 3:00.
It takes 2 hours to make it from the jail to town.
The job takes 1 hour.
It takes 2 hours to go from town to Zanda's

3:00 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 8:00 when you arrive at Zanda's not 7:00.

This means if you do everything else right, your base won't be ready until 15:00 and the wand won't be finished until 20:00. Now add 1 hour to make it to the gate and 1 hour to make it to the throne room and it is already 22:00. The king is a frog.

Reply

You have a naked Scarecrow - use it on yourself.

"Aww, nothing left to strip."

Tee hee!

I went back and found ways to die or fail:

Dragon:

Don't set up the scarecrow - get charred. Whoops.

Don't use the urine on yourself and try to leave - CHOMP! Om nom nom. The dragon says you taste GRRREAT!

Simply run out of time - this happened at the Wizard's house.

Show up late to the coronation and do nothing - you are sent flying off and die. *Team Rocket is*...wait, wrong animation.

Show up on time to the coronation and do nothing - get arrested.

Or you can use the spell on the Black Wizard and just stand there - you'll still be arrested.

Show up on time to the coronation and use the wand on the wrong person - you are sent flying off and die.

Wrong people - Left Guard, Right Guard, King, Prince (before on Black Wizard), anyone other than Prince (after on Black Wizard)

Go back into jail before the Guard leaves - yeah, you're now in Maximum Security. Smart move.

Leave the Prison Grounds while in your jail outfit - your legs are broken and you're back in jail. Congratulations.

Does anyone know of any others?

Reply
Mingy Jongo April 23, 2011 4:17 PM

You can also die by:

Not leaving the scarecrow body in the bed and having the guard discover you escaped, and using the fast-forward spell on yourself

Reply
douglasadamsreborn April 23, 2011 5:45 PM

Im surprised no-one's got the monty python reference in the review yet.

Reply

I beat the crossing puzzle in 3:20 :P

Forgot the solution :(

Reply
Founded1992 April 26, 2011 2:24 PM

I played this game through once and i thoroughly enjoyed it. I've always been fond of pixelated games as such. ^-^

Reply
Wildbreeze May 5, 2011 11:00 PM

@douglasadamsreborn, just because it wasn't commented on doesn't mean it wasn't noticed.
I laughed when I read it. :) Monty Python ish awesome.
This game was incredibly fun, I rather enjoyed getting nommed by a dragon and flying off into space... :D

Reply
Pandragon August 23, 2012 7:23 PM

Just to correct the walkthrough a bit, joye...

To watch the "Almost" ending, you just have to click the clock before the king orders his guards to apprehend you. You don't necessarily have to go back to the castle gate scene (and click the clock) to get the froggy end.

Reply

awesome game! short simple but clever! Im liking it :D

Reply

Hey, this one's pretty wonderful! Charming, quirky, and light.
Agreed that the fourth wall thing is a little tricky--missed it even after being warned. True it's not shockingly radical, esp. as there's lots of little self-conscious jokes scattered in here (like the fountain graphics)--but it does feel very different from the logical, item-combination orientation of the rest of the game, so I see where Joye is coming from.

Question about the end credits in the Perfect solution:

Who's the dude standing on the wall at the end in the Prince's usual spot, who gets killed by a knight or something at the end of the credits? Is that meant to be the Prince later in time?

Cute that he marries Sue the "jobs lady," btw.

Reply

^ Scroll Up | Homepage >

Leave a comment [top of page]

Please consider creating a Casual Gameplay account if you're a regular visitor here, as it will allow us to create an even better experience for you. Sign-up here!
  • PLEASE UNDERSTAND SITE POLICIES BEFORE POSTING COMMENTS
  • You may use limited HTML tags for style:
    (a href, b, br/, strong, em, ul, ol, li, code, spoiler)
    HTML tags begin with a less-than sign: < and end with a greater-than sign: >. Always. No exceptions.
  • To post spoilers, please use spoiler tags: <spoiler> example </spoiler>
    If you need help understanding spoiler tags, read the spoiler help.
  • Please Preview your comment before posting, especially when using spoilers!
  • No link dropping, no domains as names; do not spam, and do not advertise! (rel="nofollow" in use)
chrpa Jayisgames needs your help to continue providing quality content. Click for details Welcome to the Roundup 66 - Retro with four games! After you find the ten monkeys in the chapter, look in the inventory. You will find a...  ...
chrpa Jayisgames needs your help to continue providing quality content. Click for details Welcome to the Roundup 65 with three games! As mentioned in the previous roundups, only odd-numbered episodes are featured since even-numbered are for Robin Vencel's patrons (the...  ...
chrpa Jayisgames needs your help to continue providing quality content. Click for details Hi! Weekday Escape and Weekday Puzzle are here! First we have two new cans from tomoLaSiDo and then two small rooms from isotronic. That's all for this...  ...
6,365 Views
0 Comments
chrpa Jayisgames needs your help to continue providing quality content. Click for details Welcome to Mobile Monday! We have another beautiful game from Nicolet and it's a winter game as it should be. Tasuku Yahiro have released another of their...  ...

HELP Jayisgames.com

Recent Comments

 

Display 5 more comments
Limit to the last 5 comments

Game of the week


Dark Romance: Vampire Origins Collector's Edition

Your Favorite Games edit

add
Save links to your favorite games here. Use the Favorites editor.

Monthly Archives